What If
by Aile Anna
Summary: After the fall of Naraku, Inu Yasha begins to wonder about what could have been. A dreamscape of what if...


A/N:  Yes, another fic! But this is a one shot – so please do not request more on it.  This is an idea I had during a depressed moment, and while chatting with my dear friend Tessenchan (Arigato for being there that night when I was down) it sprang to life and I had to write it.  I hope you all enjoy it, and please leave a review – since this is not my normal kind of fic, I would really like to know what all of you think of it.

Many thanks go out to Tessenchan – who helped to birth this idea, and Yashira, who encouraged me to post it with her support, and who also is a true friend and there when I need her!  To Evenscent – May Vegeta keep you warm and toasty on these cold winter nights, and thanks for the encouragement and support!  ARIGATO minna!

Disclaimer:  I do not own any of the Inu Yasha characters; they belong to the great Takahashi-sama.

What If…

As the peaceful wind blew, bringing with it the gentle, sweet scent of cherry blossoms, a lone figure sat amongst the high branches of a whispering tree.  Multitudes of hushed voices wrapped around him, filling his triangular ears atop his head with their windswept rustling.  Eyes of liquid gold scanned the clear spring skies above before alighting upon the slender and beautiful young woman who sat in the grass with his other friends.

Inu Yasha watched the schoolgirl from the future as if she were a creature of immense fascination.  With every word and hand gesture Higurashi Kagome said and did, he felt an awestruck sense of peace and tranquility.  Where once his life had been filled with uncertainty and hatred, it was now overflowing with hope and friendship, and yes…love.

It had been several months since the evil hanyou Naraku had been defeated and the Shikon no Tama once again made whole.  As the days after the final battle passed on one into another, and the miko from the future slowly purified the orb sought by so many who wanted nothing but control and power, the inu hanyou was forced to face his biggest fear – his true feelings for the clumsy, untrained priestess with the purest of hearts.

The battle against Naraku had been tough, nearly costing them all their lives. As much as Inu Yasha hated to admit it, the fight would never have been won without the combined efforts of his friends, his asshole brother, and the annoying ookami, Kouga.  But it had not been a total victory.  

There had been one great loss from the final confrontation.  His first love, the woman who he had promised to become human for, who had died at the deceitful hands of Naraku in a lie of betrayal and brought back to the land of the living by her anger and hatred – Kikyou had finally found peace from her undead life.  Finally found peace from the hatred and anger that had born her anew in an earth and burial soil body.

As the wind picked up, blowing his silver white tresses about him, the hanyou's gaze strayed back to the pale turquoise sky.  Even as the tranquility of the day washed over him, his mind reached far back into the past, to the time when she had been all he had.  When the sad miko that was Kikyou had stolen his heart.  The leaves shivered about him, but he did not hear them, instead, he heard words draw from his heart, from his soul, words of sorrow…What if….

What if….

The woman smiled at him, her face a bright beaming beacon of adoration and love.  So rare was it for him to see the miko so genuinely happy, but this was a special day, a special moment for the two of them.  This was the moment when he would forsake all he had ever desired for her and their love.  No more fuzzy canine ears signifying his youkai blood.  No more claws that thrashed needing to be treated with extra care so as not to damage her fragile human skin.  No more silver hair or glowing yellow eyes to advertise what he was and yet was not.

No, today Inu Yasha would become a human, not because the moon was new and his demon blood had receded, no.  This was his purifying wish on the Shikon no Tama that would forever change him and his life.  Forever make him human to never again feel the loss of having no place in the world.  No longer to be hated by the two species that made up his united blood.  From this moment on, he would have a place in the world; he would belong to one species.  Yes, it was what he had wanted, if only for her, Kikyou, would he do this.

As he stared into his lover's dark brown pools before clasping the jewel into one clawed hand, Inu Yasha returned her smile, his free hand reaching out, his fingers grazing gently down her porcelain face.  This was his happiness, this woman who would be forever his until death finally took them both, where they would be joined for all eternity in the afterlife.  There was no Naraku, for the vile creature had never been born.  The one known as Onigumo had never seen the lovely priestess, dying before the woman could ever give a kind and gentle word to such a wicked person.

"I love you, Kikyou." His breath was raspy, the husky timber soft as Inu Yasha stroked Kikyou's cheek.  As the miko entwined her fingers about his, the hanyou closed his eyes, focusing on the warm pulse of the Shikon no Tama.  The jewel's own beat slowly began to thrum until the pace matched his own pounding heart.  With all the assuredness he possessed, Inu Yasha let his heart and soul combine into a single thought, a single wish to become a full blooded human.

What if…

Soft petals danced on the warm breeze creating a snowfall of sakura blossoms.  Their sweet scent filled the air, enchanting those gathered around the blissful couple.  With each gentle blow of the wind, more of the blooms gathered and swirled, haloing the newlyweds in a ring of aromatic white.

The wedding had been beautiful, with little Kaede laughing with joy through the entire ceremony.  Her chocolate eyes, both unmarred and seeing, watched with mirth as her oneesan gave up her life as a miko to become the wife to the man she loved.  It mattered not who this handsome stranger was.  He had come from the forest and made Kikyou happy, this in return made the people of the small village happy.

With each passing year and new birth to the couple, the happiness heightened.  This was what it was supposed to be like.  The woman he loved and who loved him, embracing in each other's arms every night as they watched their children grow.  Kaede became the village miko – as her sister had once been.  The village needed a new miko, and Kaede possessed great spiritual powers as her sister had once had.  

"Ojiisan!" The little voice called out as the small dark haired child climbed up into her grandfather's lap.  "Tell me again the story of the hanyou who loved the miko, and became human!" Her violet eyes looked eagerly into his, eyes that mirrored his own.  Laughter bubbled out from deep within his throat as he cradled the child to him.  This was her favorite story, the story of how her grandfather and grandmother met, the story of perfect love.

What if…

There was no sorrow on this day, even though it was a day of death.  For the two lovers who had given up everything to be together, whose wishes in the name of love had purified the Shikon no Tama ending the long battle between youkai and humans.  In the distance a lone figure stood, his golden eyes narrowed as he watched the villagers pay their respects to the dead.  

Sesshoumaru had only recently found out what had happened to the half brother he had hated since the hanyou's birth.  Silently he stood, proud and tall before bowing his head in a show of respect he would have never thought to express before.  Not for Inu Yasha, and surely not for the human woman the boy had taken as his bride.  But times had changed, and the Great Lord of the Western Lands had changed, if only slightly, with it.  He still regarded humans and weak and useless, but had learned to accept them in the world.  

With the setting of the sun, the inu youkai turned and walked away, to once again return to the lands he called home.  As the sky darkened from indigo to black, a glowing purple ball that had once been a human looking man dressed in white silks, his long white hair brushing gently against his hips, ascended into the air, to never lay eyes on his brother's grave again.

What if…

It echoed through his being as he slouched upon the branch, his head bent forward.  His breath, slow and steady now began to quicken to one of rapid thunder.  The words shot through him, those two little words, sending his mind into a spiral of despair.  Sweat beaded his brow, moistening the tips of his silvery bangs that obscured his face in the shadows. 

They were only words, two little words, two words born of pain and agony, heartache and remorse.  The fulfilling dreams of his dead love began warping and twisting.  Heat licked at his soul jerking him with greedy fingers toward its source.  Hell, in all its fury and anger the depths of the earth pulled and dragged, crying out for the hanyou who had only a few moments before been a human in a blissful dream of what if.

Black silk flowed like a jet  waterfall down the miko's back, the pure white ribbon that bundled the lengths together standing out against the darkness of the underworld.  Eyes that once held warmth and beauty now stared cold and lifeless.  "You betrayed me Inu Yasha!  SHINE!" 

Her beauty dissolved and melted in the heat of the flames as the sacred arrow flew toward his heart only to disappear before piercing his tensed body.  Flesh sagged and dripped off her as if she were nothing more than a wax doll.  Beneath the once porcelain face formed a new one.  Narrowed eyes of ebony glowed red in the firelight, enhancing his familiar features.  Thin and emotionless, a grin turned the corners of his mouth before it opened to release a wicked laugh.  

"Inu Yasha, Kikyou is mine!" Naraku chuckled deep in his throat, the sound a pounding wave of pain that nearly deafened the half dog demon.  Slick oily appendages struck out with lightening speed, latching onto Inu Yasha's legs and wrists.  Straining against the tendrils of Naraku's body, Inu Yasha fought frantically to free himself.

"This is not real!  You're fucking dead!" With great strength Inu Yasha broke free, yanking Tetsusaiga free from its sheath as he flew backwards.  "Keh!  I'll just kill you again!" Curling his lip back, sharp fangs gleamed in the frolicking light.  Rumbling with a rage born of pure hatred a growl tore free from Inu Yasha before the fang of his father transformed, it's blade glowing with power.  "Kaze no Kizu!" Fire whirled and hissed around him as Naraku cried out, his tentacles curling about his disfigured body before all vanished, only the pitch of night and silence remaining.

"You promised me, Inu Yasha, you would go to hell with me.  Why did you betray me?"  Kikyou, her broken body lay in the torn earth.  Blood seeped from multiple wounds that cracked and shattered her body of clay and bone.  "I-iie!" Guilt and shame, a far greater weapon than any sword or demon power, this was the dying miko's method of destruction.  Guilt would be her final revenge.

What if…

"Onegai, Kikyou…"  Cold, death was so cold.  Fingers icy as the mountain winter winds cradled her deeper into their grasp, tearing  her further from him.  "don't die, you can't die."

"I…for…give you, Inu…Yas…" Had she a breath born of the living, this would have been her final farewell. The souls of the dead had long since fled her clay body, nothing remaining except the stolen piece of her reincarnation's soul.  No longer did her slender and graceful legs carry her.  No more were her arms able to slip freely about him in embraces reminiscent of the past.  She was what she had been before he had finished the spell that renewed her life in a body of earth and grave soil.  

Frozen lips lay quiet as her fading mind screamed to him.  Once angry eyes without life now shined with the wetness of tears, when had been the last time Kikyou had cried?   Salty drops stained her sculptured cheeks as they trailed silently to the dusty ground.  There was so much she needed to say, if only her lips would move and voice would speak, instead, she lay in silence, trying with all her might to project her heart and soul to the man she still loved.

"Kikyou…" The lump of raw emotion that stuck in his throat nearly choked the hanyou.   "You sacrificed youself….for me.  For Kagome, for all of us…why?  You could have lived, we could have been happy again."

The reincarnation of his love wiped her own tears away before slipping away into the woods, the pain of her heart too great.  She would leave now, no goodbyes, no hugs or warm wishes, just a coward's back to those she loved.  Those she called her family in the past.   Her final gift to the one she loved was the gift of her soul to Kikyou.  She would leave before the woman died, before the soul could return to her.  Perhaps in this small gesture Kikyou would finally find peace and happiness in death.

Warm velvet against chiseled ice, it was all he could think of as he withdrew his lips from hers.  It was his own way of saying goodbye, forever.  Tearing himself from her, all eyes watched in horror as the woman crumbled to dust before being swept away by the winds.  She was gone, Kikyou , the original protector of the Shikon no Tama, sister to Kaede, first love of the hanyou Inu Yasha had finally found tranquility in death.

What if…

Sweet herbs and honey tickled his nose, causing it to twitch much like an excited bunny.  She was here…the scent of her invaded his senses, teased his memory, quickened his pulse.  His eyes snapped open as the familiar scent wrapped around him in a blanket that warmed Inu Yasha to his very soul.

"You fell asleep."  The laughter in her voice, the sparkle in her hazel eyes, it was for him and it swelled his heart with wonder and pride.  Reaching a hand up the miko gently tweaked one of his ears, earning a halfhearted growl from the dog boy.  

"You were dreaming, I heard…you cry out in your sleep."  Her voice softened as he slipped his arms about her, pulling the girl into his lap.  "Aa..I dreamed of things of the past.  But, it doesn't matter, I have you now."  Amber gold orbs met twinkling hazel ones before Inu Yasha's lips closed in over hers.  She gasped as his tongue licked out before plunging into the warmth of her.

"I love you Kagome.  Now and forever."  He breathed as he pulled back, cradling her against the rough fur of his fire rat hoari.  Burying his nose into her jet hair he sniffed deeply of the unique scent that was hers. 

"I love you too, Inu Yasha, Now and forever."  Kagome sighed happily as the sun slowly slid behind the horizon, ending another day with her hanyou.

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A/N:  I hope you all enjoyed this little tale of What If… I am not a fan of the Inu Yasha/Kikyou pairing, but I since this was a dream, I didn't mind writing it.  And for those of you who have never-ending curious minds – though I did not say it, Kagome climbed up to him in the tree.  Lol…I could not find a way to add that in without interrupting the flow.  Please remember to **read and review.  **


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